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~~Christmas Day Special - (page 8 of 24)~~

Their conversation continued for a short while longer as they discussed the bank's potential expansion into Lorent. By the end of it, though, Hector still wasn't entirely sure what to think. The only thing that was clear was that the Queen didn't exactly love the idea, but she wasn't trying to forbid him from doing it, either.

Maybe she could tell that he wouldn't be very happy if she just came right out and told him no. Or maybe she felt that that would be overreach on her part.

Frankly, he wasn't sure what he would've done if she had forbidden him from expanding. He didn't want to go against the Queen, obviously, but he also didn't want to let down his investors, especially the Rainlords. And her authority didn't extend to Lorent. If she'd acted like it did, then... well, maybe it would still be justified since he was one of her subjects.

Hmm.

In any event, once they they were done talking, Hector considered returning to Riverton Hall with the Queen. Technically, there were plenty of things he could discuss there with various Lorentian officials. It wouldn't be a wasted trip, and he had made the journey all the way here to the capital, already.

In fact, that was part of the reason why he'd let Abbas leave first. In the back of his mind, he'd intended to remain with the Queen and hitch a ride back to Atreya with her.

But all of a sudden, he couldn't help feeling like none of the encounters at Riverton Hall were particularly pressing. The only thing that seemed truly urgent right now was the Forge. He very much wanted to go meet up with Abbas again and see if he'd discovered anything new yet.

Perhaps that was a silly notion. He and the Queen had only talked for an hour so.

But he decided to go for it, anyway. Besides, he wanted to try out some new things with his materialization on the way back.